Saxophone Lessons in San Jose, CA

Instruments: Guitar Electric Guitar Acoustic Guitar

What advice do you have about practicing effectively?
Always set goals for your practicing. I find that without set goals or milestones, practicing can often turn into a "noodle-fest"; which I have been guilty of as well. For example, if you want to learn how to play like Hendrix, find a solo of his that you enjoy and set out to learn it. Use every resource you have available; learn it by ear and transcribe it, check it against other tabs, play it along with the recording, play it alone and record yourself, etc. Using a variety of techniques like this improves your self-discipline and makes it easier to stay focused on the goal.

How do I know if my child is ready to start lessons?
I find that if that after their first lesson, the child still wants to learn and is enthusiastic, then they're ready for regular lessons. Guitar can be such a tricky instrument to play physically, especially for smaller hands, that sometimes a child will be thrown off by the challenge of playing it. However, if they're still excited by the idea of playing the guitar after that, this won't bother them. It's all about teaching the student things that will keep them engaged and enthusiastic about the instrument.

When will I start to see results?
In all honesty, guitar has a pretty steep learning curve in the very beginning. I tell all my beginner students that if will be a little uncomfortable, awkward, and mildly painful for the first couple weeks. While it's very easy to get frustrated and give up during this stage, I always encourage everyone to stick it out, because once you get over that hump, it becomes exponentially better as you go. Your hands and fingers just need to adjust to this weird new things you're doing by playing the guitar, that's all.

Did you have a teacher that inspired you to go into music? How did they inspire you?
My first music teacher Gretchen Rueckheim, who taught me piano and alto saxophone. Despite my occasional waning enthusiasm in those instruments, she always kept me motivated and inspired to tackle a new piece of music or a new technique, and it's because of her I developed a strong foundation in music that would help me immensely when I discovered the guitar. My first guitar teacher, Chris Theriault, always encouraged me to bring in songs I enjoyed, and would teach me concepts from those songs, which stuck with me. I took notice of how he could listen to a guitar solo and learn it by ear right there on the spot, which motivated me to learn how to do the same.

What do you think is the hardest thing to master on your instrument?
For beginners, it's just the basic physicality of playing guitar. Right off the bat, to play one note, one has to do a lot of hand-eye coordination between both hands. There's also the matter of pressing down the strings themselves, which can be frustrating for the beginner. Besides that, I think one specific thing that I struggled with was keeping my left hand pinky under control. Teaching your fingers to stay close to the fretboard takes a lot of time, practice, and patience, but it does pay off in a big way if you're interested in playing fast.

What does a normal practice session look like for you?
I always try to start with a warm-up session consisting of drilling different scales, arpeggios, techniques, chords, etc. For one, this gets my hands warmed up and ready to play, but it also prepares me mentally for a practice session, and helps me focus on whatever goal I have for that particular session. After that I try to divide my practice between songs I'm teaching to students, repertoire for performance, and things I want to learn on my own. I always try to include some form of ear-training/transcribing into my practice sessions, because I feel that it's one of the most import aspects of being a musician.

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